Transforming law for climate action

University of Canterbury (UC) researchers are examining how environmental law can respond to the climate crisis while centring Indigenous rights and sustainable ecosystem management.

Professor Elizabeth Macpherson of the Faculty of Law focuses on the intersection of climate change, environmental governance, and Indigenous rights, addressing complex issues that are not fully resolved within existing legal and policy frameworks.

Aotearoa New Zealand is not on track to meet local or international carbon emissions reduction goals and yet there is unutilised potential in the form of coastal and marine ecosystems which can contribute to climate mitigation through "blue carbon" storage. 

Despite Aotearoa New Zealand having a vast marine environment and formally extensive coastal wetland ecosystems, there is minimal legal or policy support for restoring wetlands and recognising them as powerful carbon sinks. Elizabeth is designing legal frameworks to support protection and restoration of coastal wetlands thereby fast-tracking emissions reduction with a nature-based solution.

Elizabeth's work foregrounds Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi), Māori rights, relationships, and rangatiratanga (authority) across marine and coastal environments.

Working in partnership with iwi (tribes), hapū (sub-tribes), and Indigenous communities, her research explores how environmental governance can better recognise Indigenous knowledge systems and support equitable decision-making. Her work on Indigenous water rights and the legal recognition of rivers has contributed to international discussions on innovative approaches to environmental stewardship.

Elizabeth has led major interdisciplinary research programmes examining environmental governance and marine management in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Her research has informed policy discussions and decision-making nationally and internationally, with work cited by governments, policymakers, and organisations including the World Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. She is the author of Indigenous Water Rights in Law and Regulation: Lessons from Comparative Experience (Cambridge University Press) which received the Te Apārangi Royal Society of New Zealand Early Career Researcher award and the Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand Prize for the most outstanding book.

Through a focus on environmental law and policy reform, Elizabeth's research seeks to create systemic change that supports climate resilience, healthy ecosystems, and Indigenous rights.